1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of supplying a replenisher, and a replenisher supplying apparatus using the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Photosensitive materials which have been exposed to the light to form images thereon are processed by being successively immersed in various processing solutions such as a developing solution, fixing solution and washing water which are respectively stored in processing tanks. Performance of these processing solutions deteriorates as the quantity of the processed photosensitive materials increases, and as time passes. Therefore, in an automatic developing machine or the like, replenishers are automatically supplied to the corresponding processing tanks, in accordance with the quantity of the processed photosensitive materials so that the performance of each processing solution remains constant.
There are some replenishers which are prepared by blending plural kinds of compound liquids (hereinafter referred to as "component agents"). A method of supplying such replenishers to processing tanks has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. Sho-64-55562). In the method, a supplying apparatus of a cartridge type is used in which a blended replenisher filled in a cartridge is pumped out with a pump or the like in portions and fed to a processing tank. The above-mentioned apparatus, however, involves a drawback in that when the component agents of plural kinds remain mixed in the cartridge for a prolonged period of time, the component agents of different kinds are chemically reacted with each other so that the compounds of the component agents precipitate, which causes deterioration of the quality of the component agents.
Further, since a pipe or the like are inserted into the cartridge for pumping out the mixture, the supplying apparatus is required to have a special structure for preventing the component agents which remain in the pipe or the like from dispersing when the cartridge is exchanged with a new one.
In relation to this, another type of supplying apparatus has been proposed (Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. Sho-53-108335), which prevents undesirable leakage of liquid which occurs at the time of exchanging cartridges. This apparatus, however, has disadvantages in that the operation for taking out a replenisher from the cartridge is troublesome, it requires a special operation, and the accuracy in taking out the replenisher decreases.
In the meantime, a method has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open (Kokai) No. Hei-3-134666) for preventing the above-mentioned precipitation of the components. In the method, plural kinds of component agents are filled in different cartridges, respectively, and the component agents are temporarily stored in stock tanks disposed for the corresponding cartridges for being pumped out to be supplied to a processing tank. In this method of replenishing a processing solution, the respective component agents are pumped out so that each of the component agents is supplied to the processing tank at a predetermined rate.
In many cases, the pumping capacity of the pumps slightly differs from each other. When the quantity of a component agent stored in one of stock tanks decreases to be less than a predetermined amount, a supply of the component agents is provided from the corresponding cartridge, and when the cartridge becomes empty, the cartridge is exchanged with a new one. However, since the pumping capacity differs, as mentioned above, the quantities of the replenished component agents vary, which causes a varied quality of the photographs. Moreover, the timing at which the quantity of each stored in the stock tank decreases to be equal to or less than the predetermined level differs. This means that the timing at which each of the cartridges is to be exchanged occurs differently. Therefore, the exchange operation of the cartridges must be carried out frequently whenever a cartridge reaches the time for being exchanged.
Further, since it is necessary that processing such as development in the processing tank be temporarily interrupted when any one of the cartridges is exchanged, the work efficiency decreases as the processing is interrupted every time a cartridge is exchanged if the timings for exchange are different from each other on the respective cartridges, as mentioned above.